German vigilante group vows to protect women from migrant attackers

Thousands have pledged their support to a German vigilante group which has vowed to protect women from migrants in the wake of the New Year's Eve attacks in Cologne.

A week after a mob of 'drunk and stoned' migrants sexually assaulted and robbed 100 women on the streets of Cologne, a group known as 'Dusseldorf is Watching' has gained more than 8,000 Facebook members.

The group says it wants to make the streets safer through 'presence' alone but police have warned that 'searching for offenders is not a job for citizens'.

German police have said 18 of the 31 suspects arrested in connection with the Cologne attacks were asylum seekers.

They were among an aggressive mob of up to 1,000 people in front of Cologne's main railway station on Thursday evening.

Two of the men were found carrying threatening, handwritten notes in German and Arabic.

The messages, which they are thought to have handed to women, included the phrases, 'I am going to kill you', 'I want to f***', 'I'm only joking with you' and 'nice breasts'.

Mr Plate said the suspects included Algerians, eight Moroccans, five Iranians, four Syrians, two Germans and one person each from Iraq, Serbia and the United States.

None of the 31 suspects were accused of committing the kind of sexual crimes that have outraged Germany this past week.

The migrants threw fireworks at the police and taunted them by saying: 'I am Syrian... Mrs Merkel invited me here!'

He added: 'Citizens expect that those without a right to stay really do leave the country.'

As police tried to regain control of Cologne's streets on New Year's Eve, the attackers taunted them by saying: 'You can't do anything to me – I will get myself a new one in the morning.'
They touched our behinds and grabbed between our legs. They touched us everywhere. So my girlfriend wanted to get out of the crowd
Anonymous female victim

Outside the city's historic cathedral, where women were groped and one raped, another man told them: 'I am Syrian, I must be handled in a friendly manner. Mrs Merkel invited me here!'

Some of the victims have told of their 'truly terrible' experience, and how they felt completely helpless as they were surrounded, groped and raped by their intoxicated attackers.

One victim, who remains anonymous, said: 'All of a sudden these men around us began groping us.

'They touched our behinds and grabbed between our legs. They touched us everywhere. So my girlfriend wanted to get out of the crowd. When I turned around one guy grabbed my bag and ripped it off my body.'

Another young female victim of the mass attack said: 'I thought to myself that if we stay here in this crowd they could kill us, they could rape us and nobody would notice.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3390042/The-fightback-begins-German-vigilante-group-vows-protect-women-migrant-attackers-three-Syrians-arrested-gang-raping-two-teenage-girls.html

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